Africa is the second largest continent after Asia, and also second in population. Long ago it was called the ‘dark continent’. This was not because of its people, but because its plateaus reached right up to the coast and the Sahara desert in the north stayed unexplored by the outside world for a very long time. Africa has 54 countries.

• Location: between 37° N and 35° S latitude and 17° W and 50° E longitude. The prime meridian (0°) runs north–south through western Africa.
• Both the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn pass through Africa, and the Equator passes almost through its centre. So it is called the ‘Central Continent’.
• Extent: area 30.4 million km²; about 8,000 km north to south and 7,400 km east to west. Northern tip: Al-Ghiram point (Tunisia); southern tip: Cape Agulhas (South Africa).
• Physical setting: Atlantic Ocean (west), Mediterranean Sea (north), Red Sea and Indian Ocean (east). In the north-east it was joined to Asia by the Sinai Peninsula, now cut by the Suez Canal. The Strait of Gibraltar separates it from Europe and the Red Sea from the Arabian Peninsula. Coastline: 30,500 km.

• The whole continent is like one vast plateau of ancient crystalline rocks. It rises steeply from a narrow coast, so it is hard to enter the interior. The plateau is higher in the south-east.
• Africa has fewer high mountains and fewer lowlands than any other continent for its size.
• The coastline is almost straight, with few bays, inlets or natural harbours.

• A rift valley is a flat-bottomed valley formed when land sinks between two faults. Africa’s rift valley is 6,900 km long, so it is called the ‘Great Rift Valley’.
• It is Y-shaped. It runs from Mozambique through Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya and Ethiopia into the Red Sea, Gulf of Aqaba, Dead Sea, Sea of Galilee, and ends in the Jordan valley.

1. Sudan basin: filled by the White Nile and Blue Nile; has the world’s most extensive marshland, the ‘Sudd’.
2. Chad basin: has Lake Chad; swampy, and the Sahara is spreading into it.
3. Djouf basin: western Sahara, along the Mauritania–Mali border; filled by the River Niger.
4. Congo (Zaire) basin: a great structural basin; the River Congo and its tributaries flow through it; a forest area.
5. Kalahari basin: mostly desert and steppe grassland, surrounded by plateau rims.

• Africa has eight large lakes; the largest and deepest are in East Africa, linked with the Great Rift Valley.
• West of the rift: Albert, Edward, Kivu, Tanganyika, Nyasa. East of the rift: Rudolf (Turkana), Natron, Eyasi.
• Lake Tanganyika is the second deepest lake in the world (about 1,436 m).
• Lake Victoria, between the two arms of the rift valley, is the largest lake of Africa (about 69,481 km²). The Nile starts here.

• Atlas range: fold mountains like the Himalayas, a continuation of the mountains of southern Europe; highest peak Mt. Toubkal; in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.
• Drakensberg: along the south-east coast; not true mountains but the tilted edge of the plateau.
• Kilimanjaro: in East Africa; highest peak of Africa (5,895 m). Though it is near the Equator, its top is always snow-covered because of its great height.
• Others: Ahaggar, Tibesti, Ruwenzori, Cape range. Highest point: Mt. Kilimanjaro; lowest point: Lake Assal (Djibouti).

• An isthmus is a narrow strip of land that joins two large land masses and separates two bodies of water.
• The Isthmus of Suez lies between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea and joins Africa and Asia. It belongs to one of the nations of Africa and lies in the north-east of Africa.
• The Suez Canal (built in 1869) was dug through it. This human-made canal connects the Mediterranean and the Red Sea and is one of the world’s busiest shipping routes between Europe and Asia.

• Most rivers cut deep gorges in their upper course and have waterfalls and rapids. Many are non-perennial (seasonal) and not good for navigation. There are many inland rivers.
• Four major rivers: Nile, Congo (Zaire), Niger, Zambezi. Other important rivers: Senegal, Orange, Limpopo.

• Nile: the longest river in the world (6,650 km). It starts in Lake Victoria, flows north through the Sahara and joins the Mediterranean Sea. Its plain is very fertile and gives water for irrigation to millions. Tributaries: Al-Ghazal (left); Sobat, Blue Nile, Atbara (right). The Blue Nile starts in Lake Tana (Ethiopia) and joins the White Nile at Khartoum. The Nile forms a famous delta. The Aswan dam is built across it.
• Congo (Zaire): second longest in Africa (4,640 km). Called Luapula at its source and Lualaba elsewhere. It rises near the Equator, flows through the equatorial forests and joins the Atlantic. It forms the Livingstone falls but has no delta.
• Niger: third longest (about 4,000 km); rises in the highlands of the west coast; joins the Atlantic; non-perennial.
• Zambezi: fourth longest (about 3,500 km); flows south-east into the Indian Ocean; many rapids and falls, the grandest being the Victoria Falls; deep gorges like the Kariba Gorge.
• Senegal: rises in the Fouta Djallon plateau (Guinea), flows north-west for about 1,640 km into the Atlantic; it forms the border between Mauritania and Senegal.

• Africa lies in both hemispheres and the Equator passes through its middle, where the sun’s rays fall straight. So its climate is mainly tropical.
• Other factors: no high mountain barriers (tropical air moves freely, so climate changes slowly), ocean currents, its east-west extent and location.
• Cold currents, the Canaries (off the western Sahara) and Benguela (off the Kalahari coast), cool the coasts and bring little moisture. The warm Mozambique current brings rain to the south-east coast.
• Rainfall is heaviest along the Equator (over 200 cm) and decreases away from it; only about 15 cm in the Sahara, Kalahari and Namib deserts. Cameroon is the wettest place (1,016 cm).

1. Wet Equatorial: lowlands on both sides of the Equator, Congo basin to Guinea; hot and wet all year; heavy convectional rain every afternoon; humid and unpleasant.
2. Savanna: parts of Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Chad, Niger; mostly in Sudan, so called ‘Sudan type’ climate; high temperature, rain in summer.
3. Tropical Desert: deserts in the north and south; very hot summers, cold winters; huge difference between day and night; scanty rain, hardly any clouds.
4. Mediterranean: northern coast and southern tip: Morocco, northern Algeria, Cape Province; hot dry summers and rain in winter. The only region that gets winter rain.
5. Temperate Grassland: the ‘High Veldts’ (Dutch veld = field) in interior South Africa; far from the sea, so hot summers, cold winters and low rain.
6. Highland: Ethiopian highland and parts of East Africa; cooler because of height; little rain, only in summer.
7. Humid Sub-tropical: along the Drakensberg to the east coast, including Madagascar; hot rainy summers, cold dry winters.
8. Dry Winter Sub-tropical: south-eastern Africa; hot wet summers, mild dry winters.

• Climate, soil, landforms and people shape Africa’s plants. Many forests and grasslands were cleared and burnt, so much vegetation is not fully ‘natural’ now.
• Equatorial evergreen forests: very tall trees with broad leaves and epiphytes; valuable hardwoods: rubber, rosewood, ebony, cinchona, teak, palm, blackwood. Mangroves grow in swampy coasts.
• Savannas north and south of the forests, with acacia and baobab trees; with less rain they become thorn bushes and grasslands.
• Mediterranean: thorns, pine, juniper, cork, cedar, fig and olive. Mountain vegetation on high plateaus; desert vegetation in the Sahara and Kalahari; the Karoo (South Africa) is famous for shrubland.
• ‘Sudd’ (meaning barrier) is a special floating vegetation in the Nile valley.

• Africa is famous for its huge variety of wild life, thanks to varied climate, soils, landforms, forests and land links with Asia and Europe.
• Rain forests: chimpanzees, monkeys, gorillas, bison, leopards. Rivers and swamps: crocodiles, hippopotamus; birds like kingfishers, ostrich, shoebill and eagles.
• Savanna grasslands: zebras, wild cats, giraffes, rhinoceros, elephants, impala, cheetahs, African lions.
• Deserts: scorpions, lizards, desert fox, insects, donkeys, horses and addax. The camel is the ‘ship of the desert’.
• Ostrich: found in the southern plains and Kalahari; the largest living bird, lays the largest egg, cannot fly but is the fastest running bird, and is the only bird with two toes on each foot.

• Nearly 75% of the people depend on agriculture. Outside the equatorial region it is mostly subsistence farming: little fertilizer, mostly manual labour, low yield.
• Food crops: maize, paddy, cassava, sweet potato, yam, peanuts, peas. Maize is the only important cereal; rice and sugarcane in small areas.
• Plantation crops in equatorial areas: coffee (Burundi; grown in Ethiopia for thousands of years), cocoa (Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana), sugarcane, banana, tea, oil palm, tobacco, citrus. Egypt is famous for good quality cotton. Zanzibar and Tanzania are famous for cloves; cashew in East Africa.
• The Sahel countries (Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad, northern Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia) often suffer droughts and starvation.
• Commercial cattle rearing is advanced in Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe; Africa has about 15% of the world’s cattle.
• Why farming is backward: old methods, subsistence nature, outdated tools, illiteracy, tribalism, lack of capital and foreign investment.

• Resources (water, forests, minerals) are unevenly spread and economies depend on agriculture.
• Until the middle of the last century, Europeans plundered Africa’s wealth.
• Poor infrastructure, little capital, lack of technology and skilled labour, low buying power and political trouble.
• Now Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Egypt, Algeria and South Africa are industrialising: textiles, medicines, food processing and beverages.
• Big industries (iron and steel, rubber, cement, petrochemicals) are mainly in South Africa; iron and steel also in Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and Zimbabwe. Others: electrical machinery, transport equipment, tractors, assembling military aircraft.

• Africa is the world’s largest producer of diamond, gold and platinum.
• Diamonds: nearly 80% of the world’s diamond reserves; top producers Botswana, Zaire (DR Congo), South Africa; also Angola, Namibia, Ghana. Two types: crystal (gem) and industrial diamonds (used for cutting tools and abrasives).
• Gold: South Africa has about half the world’s gold reserves (Witwatersrand in Transvaal, Orange Free State). Over 50% of Africa’s gold comes from South Africa, Zimbabwe and DR Congo.

• Africa is thought to be where humans first appeared and learnt to use tools; Homo sapiens first appeared near the eastern lakes in Kenya and Ethiopia.
• Africa is a union of many races, clans, languages and cultures (mainly Negroid people and their sub-groups).
• About 1,051 million people. Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Zaire and South Africa have the most people. Death rate has fallen (more food, medicine, sanitation) but birth rate is high, so population grows at or slightly above the world average.
• Low life expectancy (only about 50 years) in Ethiopia, Somalia, Chad, Niger, Mali.
• Uneven distribution: dense in urban and mining areas, the Guinea coast, the Nile valley, East African highlands, Madagascar, the northern coast, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zaire. Sparse in deserts, mountains and thick forests; Libya’s Sahara and Algeria have about 15 people per km².